Given the proliferation of mobile devices, ruggedization has become an important factor in enhancing their usefulness. It is expected that mobile devices will, in normal usage, be dropped from time to time during handling for example. This introduces an additional factor of vulnerability and thus, to the extent that the mobile device may be made more robust and reliable when subjected to inadvertent physical abuse in normal usage, the utility to a user of such devices is enhanced.
Screen display assemblies incorporating a touch-sensitive panel, or touchscreen, overlaying a display screen are known. Touchscreens are especially desirable for use in mobile devices, where keyboard and mouse systems do not allow a satisfactory, intuitive, rapid, or accurate interaction by the user with the display's content. The touchscreen enables one to interact directly with the information displayed on the display screen, rather than indirectly in the case of a mouse or touchpad. Secondly, a user may interact in that manner without need for any intermediate device such as a stylus that needs to be held in the hand. Touchscreen panels are commonly overlayed on display screens of mobile devices such as mobile computers, PDAs, cell phones and smartphones to form display screen modules and these modules typically represent the most expensive components of a mobile device. Furthermore, as the components of the display screen module are conventionally bonded together during assembly of the display screen module, typically using optically clear adhesive, the entire display screen module must be discarded if the relatively brittle display screen is damaged due to a physical impact, etc.
Consequently, a solution which enhances the resistance or robustness of the display screen module to physical impact, and even further, allows severability of the touchscreen and display screen during any repair would be advantageous. It is desired to provide an impact-resistant touchscreen display module, embodied in a structure which does not add physical bulk and complexity, to mobile devices.